Corra Group will be closed for the Memorial Day Holiday on Monday, May 31st, 2010.

As most might have guessed, all county courts, Departments of Motor Vehicles, and public service agencies will also be closed for this national holiday. So no background checks on this day.

We would like to wish everyone a happy and safe Memorial Day Weekend and look forward to servicing your background checking needs, Tuesday, June 1st, at our normal business hours, 8:30 A.M., Pacific Daylight Time.

As many employers rely on county criminal background checks as part of their preemployment screening program, Corra Group attempts to keep everyone updated about court closures and furlough days. When courts close for furlough county criminal records are inaccessible and there may be a delay in receiving your background checks.

As we all know, states are experiencing budgetary constraints due to the economic downturn and a couple dozen other things. Court closures are commonplace

We see our fair share of bogus resumes. But as with any good lie, much of the bogus resume is filled with elements of truth. Employment candidates tend to skirt the corners, embellishing their past employment, lying about a degree when they only attended the college. Claiming skill sets they don’t really have.

But then there is the Big Lie. The Big Lie on one hand defies the realities of background checks. But on the other hand, if the lie is so big, the human resource manger has to wonder if it is the background check that is in error and not the job applicant. Apparently Adam Wheeler committed the Big Lie. In vying for a literary scholarship at the New Republic, Wheeler claimed at perfect 4.0 Grand Point Average at Harvard University. His resume boasted a combined 18 prize and scholarship awards. It is reported in the Huffington Post that Wheeler was awarded some $14,000in grants and prizes, after submitted plagiarized content. He received $30, 00 in student aid from Harvard, allegedly under false pretenses.

Wheeler has been charged with four counts of larceny over $250, eight counts of identity fraud, seven counts of falsifying an endorsement or approval and pretending to hold a degree. While Harvard is zip lipped about how Wheeler could have pulled the proverbial wool over the eyes of one of most prestigious universities, speculators are firing away. Apparently, Wheeler created documents, including the envelopes, that so mimicked legitimate institutions, to Harvard, his credentials appeared very much intact.

Okay, so the kid lied, cheated and stole some money. He will probably be punished; how severely is anyone’s guess. And everyone will tsk-tsk in admonishment, which is appropriate enough. Grudgingly, perhaps, you do have to give him credit for creativity and initiative. This kid may turn up somewhere as a leading entrepreneur and his infamous past will be just add-in fodder for the tabloid media. It is not right what he did, by any means, but he did have the temerity to pull it off. At least for awhile. And then like most con artists who don’t know when to stop, he overreached, and it all came crashing down around him.

We often see education verification background checks that are bogus. As I wrote earlier, sometimes the employment candidate claimed a degree when the background check will report enrollment only. And sometimes they never attended the school at all. Wheeler’s case, as I also wrote earlier, is a Big Lie, a monstrous fabrication that surpassed even the more brazen liars we have encountered while conducting background checks. It will remain as one of those offbeat legends, achieving semi-mythical status in some circles.

As for Wheeler getting any more financial awards of scholarships, that’s probably out of the question.

Before I get into this, I first want to say the census worker who came to my door was a kindly woman who I believe would cause no one any harm. I am assuming that most census workers are just that; decent people who need a few bucks for working a limited period of time.

But not long ago I wrote one article that is entitled, Census Worker Rape Sets Controversy on Background Checks. This article was in relation to a news report that a census worker allegedly raped a woman’s handicapped daughter. Now here is another article on the website for NBC Philadelphia where a New Jersey woman recognized the census worker at her daughter as someone she saw on the state sexual offender registry. As the agency overseeing census workers, conducts background checks through the FBI, I have to wonder…what gives? In this case, the article reports, that the sex offender had apparently applied for the job under a different name. His alias cleared the background check. However, his fingerprints brought up the proverbial red flag, and he was discharged.

Ultimately, the man was arrested on charges of false representation and impersonating a public official, according to police. So perhaps no harm was done to anyone, save for frightening the poor woman who recognized him on her doorstep. And with some 600,000 of people being hired, it is possible that convicted felons and sex offenders, while undergoing background checks, may initially slip through the cracks. Still, one thinks of the destruction this man could have caused.

I realize too that the census bureau had to get people out on the street. But since there have been two incidents that I am aware of, one being the rape, the other this, perhaps workers shouldn’t be hired and fielded until they actually pass the requisite background check.